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Clark Worked For Ark. Data Firm By Robert O'Harrow Jr. Retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark helped an Arkansas information company win a
contract to assist development of an airline passenger screening system, one of
the largest surveillance programs ever devised by the government. Starting just after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, Clark sought out
dozens of government and industry officials on behalf of Acxiom Corp., a data
powerhouse that maintains names, addresses and a wide array of personal details
about nearly every adult in the United States and their households, according to
interviews and documents. Clark, a Democrat who declared himself a presidential candidate 10 days ago,
joined Acxiom's board of directors in December 2001. He earned $300,000 from
Acxiom last year and was set to receive $150,000, plus potential commissions,
this year, according to financial disclosure records. He owns several thousand
shares of Acxiom stock worth more than $67,000. Clark's consulting role at Acxiom puts him near the center of a national
debate over expanded government authority to use personal data and surveillance
technology to fight the war on terrorism and protect homeland security. In a measure of the intensity of that debate, Congress this week cut funding
to the Defense Department's Information Awareness Office, a research project run
by retired Adm. John M. Poindexter, after the office proposed a global data
surveillance system to identify terrorists before they attack. Recent news about the sharing of passenger information by JetBlue Airways
Corp. with an Army contractor also raised privacy concerns. Acxiom helped
provide data to that project, but Clark had no role in making the arrangements,
the company said. "The privacy impact of anti-terrorism initiatives is certain to be a major
issue in the presidential campaign," said David L. Sobel, general counsel at the
Electronic Privacy Information Center, an advocacy group in the District. "The public is extremely skeptical," he said. "He owes the public an
explanation as to how, if elected, he would limit the government's expanding
collection of personal information about citizens." Others believe that Clark faces skepticism about the money he took to
represent Acxiom, even though many former military leaders have done the same
thing. "There's something unseemly and, yes, mercenary, about a distinguished
general lobbying for a company trying to get government contracts," said Charles
Lewis, executive director for the Center for Public Integrity. Clark declined repeated requests in recent weeks to discuss the lobbying and
his thoughts on information policy. After announcing his presidential ambitions,
Clark quit working as a consultant for Acxiom but maintained his seat on the
company's board. As a consultant, he helped the company win a government contract worth an
undisclosed amount to provide data and consulting services to the CAPPS II
program. CAPPS II is the second-generation computer-assisted passenger screening
system, a network that Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta once described
as "the foundation" on which all other, far more public aviation security
measures depend. A senior executive at Acxiom said Clark began knocking on doors for the
company, without pay, out of patriotic impulses shortly after the Sept. 11
attacks. Jerry Jones, Acxiom's general counsel and business development leader,
said the company also wanted to do its part in the war on terrorism. Acxiom is a data integrator that manages billions of records for some of the
nation's top banks, retailers and marketers. The company said it has "the
largest collection of U.S. consumer and telephone data available in one source"
-- data that is used in part to enhance others' records and authenticate
identities. "We reached out to him as someone who might get the attention in Washington
of our capabilities," Jones said. "He was looking for ways to help make the
country safer and more secure." After joining the company's board in December 2001, Clark quickly arranged
for executives to talk with officials at FinCEN, a Treasury Department agency
responsible for financial intelligence and initiatives to combat
money-laundering. Clark also has met on the company's behalf with officials at the Department
of Justice, the CIA, the Department of Transportation, the Transportation
Security Administration and Lockheed Martin Corp., the defense contractor that
is heading up CAPPS II. Government and industry officials who have attended meetings with Clark
described him as thoughtful and persuasive. Jones, the Acxiom official, said
Clark repeatedly stressed the need to "properly balance legitimate privacy
interests and the need for security." Jones said that was a core theme of
Acxiom's effort to win government contracts. In a meeting at the Department of Transportation in January 2002, according
to participants, Clark described a system that would combine personal data from
Acxiom with information about the reservations and seating records of every U.S.
airline passenger. With officials from an Acxiom partner sitting nearby, he explained that
computers would examine the data -- massive amounts of information about
housing, telephone numbers, car ownership and the like -- for subtle signs of
terrorist intentions. The system would authenticate the identity of every
passenger, he told the government officials at the meeting. Implementation of CAPPS II has been delayed several times because of a mix of
technological hurdles and concerns about its potential intrusiveness.
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